So why aren’t we making use of this important human resource? It was recently national Nurse Practitioner Week, but you would be forgiven if you’ve never heard of Nurse Practitioners. Most Canadians haven’t — and most don’t know their value to our health care system. You may be even more surprised to learn that […]
Canadians 65 years and older now outnumber children 14 years and under, which means our needs as a society are changing. We are succeeding in shifting the aging curve through preventive interventions and better public health — that’s good news. But the changing demographic is causing strains in our health and social care supports. How […]
Canadian Medicare would not exist without the actions of the federal government. But in recent years, there has been an atrophy of the imagination about Ottawa’s role in health policy, as if federal transfer payments to the provinces and territories were the beginning and the end of everything. Last week, we submitted a report to […]
A version of this commentary appeared in the Globe & Mail, the Canadian Healthcare Network and The Province As a recent Globe and Mail investigation has noted, some Canadians have had to pay extra for care that they thought would be fully covered. The investigation reveals how complex this set of issues can be. As many […]
A version of this commentary appeared in the Toronto Star, the Vancouver Province and the Huffington Post The assisted-dying bill (Bill C-14) was passed in Canada almost a year ago, but not without its detractors — on both sides of the issue. Opponents of the bill were concerned that vulnerable populations, such as those with disabilities […]
Governments need to start investing in care navigators to ensure equitable access to publicly funded services and supports A version of this commentary appeared in the Toronto Star, Huffington Post and Windsor Star It’s a fact: the Canadian population is aging. For the first time in history, Canadians 65 years and over outnumber those 14 […]
Almost half of those with developmental disabilities are diagnosed with mental illness or addiction — and they are among the most frequent visitors to emergency departments A version of this commentary appeared in Policy Options, the Vancouver Province and the Winnipeg Free Press With the recent federal commitment to increase mental health funding across Canada, we […]
If you follow health tips in the media, you’d think the nutritional sciences are a mess: Is butter good for you or is it bad? Should I eat breakfast or skip it? Should I eat like a caveman? Or maybe should I eat more like a bird?
Organizations advocating for family caregivers are hoping our Prime Minister will soon issue a proclamation recognizing family caregivers and establish a National Caregiver Day (the First Tuesday in April).
On January 26, the Quebec regulation abolishing medical user fees came into effect, bringing the province in line with federal legislation outlined in the Canada Health Act (CHA). According to the CHA, the money that flows from Ottawa to the provinces for health services, known as the Canada Health Transfer, is conditional on the provinces […]
